Rivalry
by We Stole Vodka From The Optic
Summary: It almost seemed as if they were rivals for everything. Sima Yi x Yue Ying x Zhuge Liang


**Working on quite a few fics with Sima Yi and a few other characters. Writing this to get a handle on them. **

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Rivalry

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She was plain. Ugly, if you didn't have the 'proper Chinese tastes'. But she was intelligent. And that made her a beauty in the eyes of those who sought intelligent partners. Yue Ying was beautiful, then, in _their_ terms. In Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi's terms.

But she was not _his._

She was that _inferior man's._

Even Sima Yi could not deny her cleverness, her determination, the way she was graceful when attacking one with her own inventions. Yes, even Sima Yi had to grant that damned Shuist, that damned _woman _a few bits of praise. Of useless, foolish, dumb praise.

She was a fool to marry Zhuge Liang, he thought. Sima Yi could not grasp a single idea of why she would marry Zhuge Liang. The man was infuriating, in Sima Yi's honest, personal, (Foolish) opinion. The man had no grasp on vision, on ruling a kingdom where it would be him who ruled the land, the most intelligent of the Shuists, and not Liu Bei, who believed in a world without chaos.

"_How foolish."_ Sima Yi thought, sitting in his study, the only place where he had peace to himself. (Zhang He had the unfortunate tendency to trail behind him like a lost puppy whenever he was not in his study.) He and Zhuge Liang were a lot alike, he knew, despite the obvious differences in philosophy, beliefs. Temperament as well. Sima Yi smiled, one of the few rare, reassuring (FAKE) smiles that he saved for himself, Cao Cao and Cao Pi.

Yue Ying was intelligent, yet dumb enough to marry an inferior, stupid man. (No, not stupid. Zhuge Liang has never been stupid.)

She wasn't beautiful. But Sima Yi didn't care. It was her intelligence, the single fact that made her ugly in the eyes of tasteless men, which Sima Yi cared about.

Yes, it almost seemed as if they were rivals for everything.

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He's seen the way he looks at her on the battlefield. A fact which secretly infuriates Zhuge Liang more than the fact that his rival's plans have become increasingly easy to destroy, indicating that they most likely are not his plans and that he is plotting something bigger.

Zhuge Liang pushes the paper away from him in his own study. He loves Yue Ying, and he knows that it is not in his best interest to be angry towards the man who _doesn't _have her heart. Yue Ying loves him, this he knows, and she does not love Sima Yi.

But still. He sees the way the Wei Strategist looks at her on the battlefield; conniving, wolfish, his eyes plotting something beneath that thick skull.

Zhuge Liang presses his fan against his lips, a habit of nervousness, an emotion very nearly unknown to him. It's foreign, just like the fire that rises in his stomach whenever he thinks about _him _looking at _his wife._

The Shu Strategist knows that she is his, that she loves him with all her heart, but even Zhuge Liang cannot deny the fact that he is, and always will be, human. He has doubts. He has, will always have, a certain sense of low self-esteem. Even he, a genius, a Sleeping Dragon, cannot deny that he is human.

Sometimes he wish he wasn't human. Then these pitiful thoughts would be cast from his soul, his genius.

He does know he has Yue Ying's heart.

He knows he always will.

But he knows that Sima Yi has things he doesn't. Like passion. Manipulation.

He fears that his rival will manipulate her. And Zhuge Liang fears that he will not be able to stop it. He cannot stop people from swaying from their paths. He knows this.

But he is human. He has doubts.

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She has an affinity for them both. Try as Yue Ying might, she loved them both. She could not marry them both, no, of course not, but she admired their intelligence, their wit, the way they went at each other on the battlefield. Had they not been rivals, maybe, they themselves could've devised a country of their own design, conquering the chaos-ridden land easily with their matched intelligence.

They were a lot alike. Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. Kongming and Zhongda. Flipsides of one another maybe, in some points. Where Zhuge Liang was cool tempered, Sima Yi lashed out, having no control on the most devilish of tempers. Where Zhuge Liang was loyal, Sima Yi was treacherous.

But they were both intelligent. Yue Ying admired them both, admired the way they both seemed to know what the other was thinking, admired the way they schemed against one another with an equal level of brilliance.

Their genius shone on the battlefield and Yue Ying wondered why she seemed to be the only one who saw their genius for what it was; dangerous, beautiful. Like a tiger, almost.

She's seen the way they both look at her. She wasn't much of a catch, she tried to admit to herself, with the ugliness she'd believed she'd had. But just like she admired their intelligence, they admired hers. Yue Ying smiled, leaning against a bookshelf, holding a romance novel she'd found in Shu's extensive library. She liked them both.

She couldn't marry them both, of course not. No matter how many times she'd want to. She's seen the way Zhuge Liang's smile twists when it's the three of them on the battlefield. She's seen the way Sima Yi's wolfish gaze lingers on her for far too long when he's cutting down enemies, her troops, with those wires of his. She's seen the way he and Zhuge Liang fight on the battlefield when she's in eyeshot, always a little more vicious, a little angrier than before, like they're tigers fighting for a mate.

This was a love triangle she'd gotten herself into.

She'd never spoken to Sima Yi. She's spoken with her husband many times before, always a kind conversation, riddled with gentleness and hints of teasing, intelligent sarcasm. Sometimes she wonders what it'd be like if she was talking to Sima Yi. Would it be different? Would he use other words than her husband.

But then she shakes her mind of those treacherous, treasonous thoughts and continues on with working on her inventions, maybe fixing up her crossbow blade for the next battle.

Sometimes, Yue Ying thought, it almost seemed as if Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang were rivals for everything.

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**Feedback is much appreciated. I'm amateurish with the characters, so I would appreciate it if you give me a little more insight into how well I did. (I think I fudged up really badly on Kongming.... Even after editing this like a gazillion times.)  
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**This was inspired by a Youtube video in which Yue Ying fights Sima Yi in DW5 and the things Sima Yi said are taken a little overboard by the Youtubers in the comments section. Hence, I became drawn to this pairing. (Mainly because of Sima Yi, who gets no love around here except from Zhange He. LOL)**


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